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Sister Jerome Fired from Institutions She Founded
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A sad and abrupt ending to report this morning to 96-year-old Sister Jerome Corcoran’s decades of work at the acclaimed inner-city educational institutions she founded, the Millcreek Children’s Center and the Youngstown Community School. In an email sent Tuesday night to her supporters, Sister Jerome says she has “come to a fork in the road” and was “fired” May 25 by the board of directors of Sister Jerome’s Schools Inc.
The termination followed two years of efforts to ease Sister Jerome into retirement and install new leadership for the nonprofit charter school at 44 Essex St.
In November 2010, Michele D. Grant, then associate director of YSU’s Rich Center of Autism, was formally presented as Sister Jerome’s successor. Within months, Grant left the post. More recently, educator Patricia M. Sweeney of Poland was named Sister Jerome’s successor. That succession plan also failed; Sweeney has since been named commissioner of the Mahoning County District Board of Health.
“At this point, the board wants to have a new director in charge, and has elected one of their liking, who has only a high school diploma, no experience in child care, at a salary of $60,000 plus benefits,” Sister Jerome said in her email. “I will not be at Millcreek Children's Center; my last day was May 25, when the board notified me that I was fired; no cause given.”
Mary Jane Gingher, formerly employed by Humility of Mary Health Partners, will become the executive director, according to Sister Jerome. In a memo she wrote to board members May 24, the day before she was terminated, Sister Jerome complained, “Mary Jane has only a high school diploma and a two-year degree is the minimum degree allowable for director/administrator of a child care center in Mahoning County. Mary Jane told me she will take college courses later on, not now. In the interim, a licensed administrator will be hired to do the work [that] licensing requires.”
Sister Jerome questioned the fiscal responsibility of paying two people, at a total cost she estimated at $125,000, to do the work that one licensed administrator could perform for half that cost.
Earlier that week, the board held a special meeting from which Sister Jerome says she was excluded, “the first such exclusion in 36 years,” she says.
“Who is adding to the ‘turmoil’ at Millcreek?” she asked in a May 24 memo to staff members, referring to three board members privately questioning staff, presumably about transition problems.
In 1976, Sister Jerome founded Developing Potential Inc. and its Millcreek Children’s Center; the Youngstown Community School, a preschool for children of low-income parents, was founded in 1998.
On May 22, three days before Sister Jerome’s termination, directors sent a memo to school employees asserting its authority. “The board of directors wishes to assure you that we are aware of the concern amongst the staff following a series of employee turnovers in the past year,” states the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Business Journal. “To provide stability and continue the excellent service all of you provide, we have determined that any and all hiring, dismissals or change in any employee’s job description will only be done with the approval of the board of directors.”
As tensions escalated, Sister Jerome consulted an attorney, Ted Roberts, who reviewed the constitution of Developing Potential Inc., the nonprofit umbrella organization. In a letter dated May 22 to Sister Jerome, Roberts stated “day-to-day management is vested in the executive director, not the board [but the] executive director is subject to the control of the board of directors.
In her May 24 memo to staff, Sister Jerome asserted her authority. She noted that Mary Jane Gingher, appointed director-in-training, would “begin a series of orientation experiences” but she “has no executive authority over staff during her three-month training period. …Sister Jerome, as the executive director, has authority over staff,” she wrote.
The following day, Sister Jerome was fired.
“The Lord has made me a tough old bird,” she wrote in last night’s email to supporters. “I plan to work hard for needy people, and to be the best Ursuline Sister I can be. I have donated my body to NeoMed after my death. Maybe I am thinking of one last big effort to thank the good Lord for my very happy life. Let us continue to pray for one another. God bless.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Early this morning The Business Journal asked the secretary of Developing Potential Inc., attorney Martha Bushey, for comment. As of this posting, she has not replied. This story will be updated when the board’s response is received.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Andrea Wood, reporter on this story, is designated as an adviser to the board of Millcreek Children's Center. Ms. Wood, publisher of The Business Journal, says she has never attended any board meetings nor acted in any capacity to advise the organization.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.